Husband Life Hacks

Life hacks, those amazing quick tricks or handy ideas to make your life easier. Today’s post is part life hack, part public service announcement for husbands. These are some things that you should do, some things you should never do, and a few just good ideas.

Husband Life Hack #1- Learn to Cook

Husband Life Hack #1 Learn to Cook

Every guys should know how to cook at least a few things. You don’t have to be a gourmet, but you should be able to whip up a few quick things. This comes in extremely handy when you want to do something special for your wonderful wife.

Picture it now, on a random busy day a few weeks from now your wife calls on her way home from work with that same question she asks every night, “what do you want for dinner?” Wouldn’t it be great to say, “Don’t worry love, I’ve got dinner tonight” and not have to find the closest take-out joint?

Don’t know where to start? Watch Good Eats with Alton Brown, he cooks like a guy, with lots of science and facts behind it, not all fru-fru and flowery. Just good straight forward easy cooking, you might surprise yourself!

Husband Life Hack #2- Tell Her She’s Beautiful

Husband Life Hack #2 – Tell her she’s beautiful!

Every woman wants to hear the words, “You Look Beautiful” from her husband. Guys we don’t say it enough. Not nearly! Think about all the negative messages your wife gets about her appearance every day. Every magazine, every TV show, every ad says your normal look isn’t good enough.

You have the be the one that tells her you love the way she looks!

Not just once, not just when she dresses up nice, but often and when she is just wearing her normal clothes. (bonus points if she isn’t wearing clothes at all!)

If you remember, it means something! If you forget it means something too! Don’t Forget!

Husband Life Hack #3- Be Patient

Husband Life Hack #3- Be Patient

Don’t be this guy! Yes your wife will take time to get ready. Usually it’s because she doesn’t just have to get herself ready, she has to get the kids ready, the lunch ready, the house ready, the babysitter ready …

If you find yourself in the place where you are waiting for her to finish getting ready you can:

#1- make sure everything else is ready. Do some dishes, walk the dog, get the kids coats on…

or #2 wait patiently and when she does finally emerge from getting ready don’t let your frustration let you forget Husband Life Hack #2!

The problem with nagging is that it works. If the only way you do that thing she asked you about 3 months ago is for her to remind you about it every week for the next 3 months, then you are setting yourself up to be nagged!

Guys, if you own your part in the problem you will discover better ways.

If you honestly have trouble remembering then create a “honey-do list”. You start it and encourage your wife to add things on the list to keep you from forgetting.

Here is the real issue, if your wife is asking you to do something you either don’t want to do, don’t have the money to do, or don’t have the ability to do, then you need to be honest about that. Just saying, “ya I’ll get to that later” doesn’t count and will just lead to frustration for both of you.

Do you have any suggestions for Husband Life Hacks for future editions? Let me know in the comments!

#4 – If money is the problem, don’t just tell her it is a problem, give her the options so that she sees where she can help (in my case, it was talking with her about us reducing eating out and putting the money aside for the project, or getting a loan and showing her the monthly cost if we chose that route). Having her be a part of the process and getting her to engage gave her a different perspective, and I think appreciation for the amount of money spent not only for the project, but also how much she and I spend eating out, and how much we would be able to save if we cut back on an ongoing basis.

Oh these are great! Thank you for #4. I LOVE the comic for #4 by the way. That gave me a good laugh.

I hate nagging! I hate it! So often it feels like the only option I have if I can’t do everything myself (and really, when can I actually do everything myself???) . If I ask for help and hubby pushes it off and avoids it I feel like he’s literally yelling at me that I’m not important! It’s a silent protest that’s not so silent.

Listen, the only way I remember to get a job done (especially a job I’m not excited to do, but has to get done) is to put multiple reminders on my iPhone about that task. I’m talking 2-3 alarmed reminders on my phone per day scheduled indefinitely until that task is done. I literally have to nag myself too! Yeah! I’m guessing I’m not the only spouse out there nagging themselves either!

It’s part of being a responsible grown up. If you know your pattern is to intend to get to something but you’re likely to honestly tune it out and forget…then DO SOMETHING about it! Set your own reminders and don’t wait for someone else to remind you so you can then resent them for it!